Kindergarten and 1st Grade Mouse Skills

Kindergartners and 1st graders display another fun way to show off their progress at controlling the mouse. They had to move the mouse with precision across the screen, hold the mouse still while clicking, and click and drag.

Kindergarten

"Wordle" you thankful for, Area B?

Second graders in Area B typed 10 or more words they were thankful for using Microsoft Word. They used the "return" key to type on a new line, saved their work, and learned to copy and paste their work between applications using both the menu and the keyboard shortcuts. They pasted their words into the Word Cloud maker from ABCya.com. Here are some of their Word Clouds.

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Happy Computer Science Education Week!

Try these Hour of Code activities to write your own lines of code and create a nifty project.

Kindergarten-1st Grade

Click Kodable then click "Students Start Here" to begin. Place arrows in the correct order to help the fuzz balls move through the maze.

2nd-3rd grade

Click Puppy Adventure then click "Play Now" to begin. Program the puppy to avoid obstacles and return home by placing commands in order and using loops.

4th-5th Grade

Click Spin Draw then click the button "Play Now" to begin. In this activity you will use code to create a stamping art project.

Kindergarten Shows Off Mouse Skills

A foundational skill kindergartners work on in tech class is how to use the mouse. Students learn to hold the mouse steady, click, double click, and click and drag items across the screen. Mouse control develops hand-eye coordination and precision.  Creating their own pumpkins is one way students used this skill. 

Kindergartners created and saved their individual pumpkins using the Make a Pumpkin activity from ABCya.com. I combined their creations into a single picture using PhotoCollage.com.

Kindergarten Class Books: Silly Sally

Did you know we have some super silly kindergartners in our school? I know, what a surprise. Kindergartners show off just how silly they can be in their own versions of Silly Sally by Audrey Wood.

Through this project students took photos of each other using the iPad. Then they recorded their voices on Adobe Spark using silly made-up words that rhyme with their names. Because these books have student pictures and names, the books won't be posted online to protect student privacy. But if you want to see your student's class book, just ask me or their kindergarten teacher to watch it.

Area A and P7A Class Books: Q is for Duck

D is for ice cream? W is for dog? Why?

Area A and P7A wrote their own versions of Q is for Duck: An Alphabet Guessing Game by Mary Elting and Michael Folsom. Read on to find out the answers to these alphabet riddles and more.

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Area B Class Books: Yes Day!

Are you excited to see what Area B 2nd graders have been working on? If you answered "Yes!" then you are on the right track to enjoy these class books. Area B wrote their own versions of Yes Day! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. Read on to find out what these 2nd graders are hoping you'll say "Yes!" to.

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Welcome back!

Welcome back for an awesome year in technology class!

Creativity, problem solving, storytelling and innovation have been on my mind as I prepared for this year. Students will strengthen mouse skills, typing, and familiarity with navigating computers through project-based learning. Last year every student learned to code. This year students will build off of those gains to learn more coding principles and create projects using code.

Check back throughout the year to see what these techie students are accomplishing!

Area D 2nd and 3rd Grade Coding Projects: Flappy Bird Games

This year Area D second and third graders worked on Course 2 of the Code.org curriculum. Students completed the final project of programming an original version of the Flappy Bird game. Click the links below to play the games they created.

  

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By AL       https://studio.code.org/c/402674929

By AM      https://studio.code.org/c/402675148

By AM      https://studio.code.org/c/402675282

By AD       https://studio.code.org/c/402675403

Area A and P7A 1st and 2nd Grade Coding Projects: Play Lab Stories

This year students in Area A and P7A worked on Course 1 of the Code.org curriculum. Many of them completed the final project of programming an original story in Code.org's Play Lab. Click the links below to check out their creations.

      

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By AH      https://studio.code.org/c/402682222

By AZ       https://studio.code.org/c/402682122

By CL       https://studio.code.org/c/402682613

By DS       https://studio.code.org/c/402682310

By JC        https://studio.code.org/c/402682475

By JS        https://studio.code.org/c/402682385

By MA     https://studio.code.org/c/402682518

Now we know our ABCs: Kindergarten Alphabet Books

Kindergarten students made drawings for an alphabet book using the app Draw and Tell by Duck Duck Moose. Student drawings were combined using Microsoft PowerPoint. Enjoy!

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May the Fourth Be with You

I couldn't resist putting in a little plug for all you Star Wars fans out there. Feeling festive? Try this Star Wars Hour of Code: https://code.org/starwars.

Plant Growth Time Lapses by Area D

Second and third graders in Area D studied plants earlier this year in science. Students made time lapse videos to show plant growth starting from a seed. They used the ABCya Make an Animation tool. See if you can find the parts of a plant in their animations.

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Women's History Month: Celebrating Pioneers in Technology

Happy International Women's Day!

Many women over the years have overcome significant challenges to break barriers and spark innovation in the field of technology. This month, students will learn about a few of these influential historical figures, such as Grace Hopper and Katherine Johnson.





But we won't stop there. Women are still busy creating the future of the technology world. We'll also spotlight some girls and young women who aspire to be like these women of the past. Check out some of the next generation's stories at www.FutureKatherineJohnsons.com.

Black History Month: What Kindergarten Learned

Last month, all students researched a tech innovator. Here is a showcase of what they learned through this biography study.

Kindergarten

Kindergartners made a class video using Adobe Spark. Through this project students worked on basic collaborative video design, audio recording, and graphic selection based on content.

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Black History Month: What 1st Grade Learned

1st Grade

First graders worked on basic keyboarding skills by typing their research in Microsoft Word. They also learned how to save and open files. Students combined their text with a graphic using a web-based tool called Big Huge Labs to create trading cards.

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Black History Month: What 2nd Grade Learned

2nd Grade

Second graders worked on basic keyboarding skills by typing their research in Microsoft PowerPoint. They also learned how to save and open files. As part of making a collaborative slide presentation, students chose a design, created a title slide, added additional slides for each fact, and inserted graphics related to the content.

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Black History Month: What 3rd Grade Learned

3rd Grade

Third graders made iMovie trailers in partnerships. Students had to work collaboratively to choose a trailer template, type a catchy title, insert graphics, vary the graphic compositions to make the video more interesting, and type biographical information.

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Black History Month: Honoring the Contributions of Tech Innovators & Advocates

Many past and current innovators and advocates have enriched the field of technology.  Students will learn about just a few of these amazing people by doing a WebQuest. Later in the month students will share what they learned.

1. Angela Benton   



Picture Source: www.pipelinefellowship.com/about/workshopspeakers/speaker-benton-angela/



2. Kimberly Bryant    



Picture Source: www.blackgirlscode.com/about-bgc.html



3. Marc Hannah     



Picture Source: www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/marc-hannah-41



4. Roy L. Clay, Sr.    



Picture Source: http://africanamericancyberreport.com/2015/02/roy-clay-sr-godfather-silicon-valley/

"Unplugged" Coding Activities

Students in grades Kindergarten through third grade have been busy coding. Ask any kindergartner what an "algorithm" is or what "debug" means. They can probably tell you!

Students participated in several "unplugged" activities to build the foundation for the coding concepts they would later use on the computer. Young children often learn best when first presented with concrete, hands-on materials and then connecting that experience with visual and abstract representations. Here are some of the activities we did.

Move It, Move It Maps

Kindergarten and first graders created maps with a hidden picture of a smiley face and guided a partner to the hidden picture using body motions as commands for each step of the task. Students really got creative with this. When asked what they liked about the activity, first grade students said the following.

"I liked when the person walking got to the smiley face." (AA in A1)
"I liked that it was a mystery and you had to find where the smiley face was." (MA in A2)
"It was a game." (NK in A2)
"I liked that you needed to jump." (TV in A2)
"It was like programming a robot and telling it what to do." (HZ in A3)
"It was fun because it was a mystery." (SG in A3)
"I liked going where the person tells me to go to find the smiley face." (AR in P7A)
Other students in P7A liked setting up the maze (JV & DS), guessing (AHC, MLB, & MLP), programming (SS), and moving their bodies (AW & AA).

 

 

 

Real-Life Algorithms: Paper Airplanes

Third graders built a foundation for algorithms by making paper airplanes. Students sorted visual directions, determined which steps were needed, put them in order, and then followed the algorithm to make a paper airplane. This activity showed students that algorithms can be found in many real life scenarios. It also reinforced that steps need to be in the right sequence to reach an intended outcome.

  

  

Parent Internet Safety Class during Literacy Night on Jan. 19

One of the sessions at our school Literacy Night is specifically for parents on how to help their children stay safe online.

Parent Internet Safety Class during Literacy Night

Thursday, January 19

5:00 - 6:30 PM

Click HERE to give your input on what topics we cover that night.  Thank you!